Maciek Kur I've seen this movie about three-four times over the years on different occasion and I find it just more and more unpleasant. The movie tries to be a commentary about Poland but sadly when all of you're commentary focuses only on negatives it come out more as a propaganda then a satire. It's just feels way to manipulative for me. Yes Polish society have problems but the way movie hammers in the messages is just painful to watch. To make it worse - it's just not that funny. Most observations are pretty obvious so there is nothing really new.Another problem is the main hero which I had hard time to relate to. Much like the movie he only focuses on negative things in his life which once again makes him not very sympathetic character. Both the hero and the script writer comes out as whinny and people who just can't enjoy life for a single moment and if your message is that all people in Poland are this way I can't agree or give the movie any respect. It lost me early on and 2-3 funny moments aren't enough to win me back especially is most of so called is just vulgar...

valis1949 DAY OF THE WACKO, directed by Marek Koterski, is a rather droll comedy about the daily life of an eccentric and depressed Polish high-school teacher. He's angry, lonely, underpaid, unappreciated, and can envision no end to his predicament. Imagine a film in which the ambient spirit of Eleanor Rigby is reconfigured as a very frustrated Polish, middle-aged nerd, and you come close to the tone of this dark farce. There are some scenes which are very funny, and others are just plain odd. Yet, overall, the film is worth a look. When the hero visits the beach to relax and unwind, he meets some of the craziest and bizarre characters that one could imagine. A few of these scenes are flat-out hysterical. Bonus Features are all in Polish without sub-titles.

MNMoviePaul Even though I've lived in Poland for over a year now, I generally don't watch many Polish movies, especially newer ones, which I've found to be very derivative of American and British films. This movie however is a true gem. A rare film that makes you take stock of your own choices in life. The movie focuses on a day (though actually it has to be more than one day) in the life of Adas, a 49 year old high school teacher from Warsaw who's first words to us are "I'm afraid of waking up", and we soon learn thats not all he's afraid of. Adas is deeply dissatisfied with every aspect of his life. From his noisy neighbors, to his broken family, to the Polish government, to his own inability to climb out of his personal hell. Told mostly through narration voice-over which clues us in to Adas's thought process, the film explores the turmoil of middle age with an honesty and poignancy rare in film. While certainly hilarious in moments, this movie serves up an equal (or greater) amount of melancholy as well, balancing the two aspect, delicately. As Adas passes from compulsion to depression, to denial, to rage, we learn more about him, and come to empathize with him. The most striking feature of this movie for me, was the universality of Adas, and the relate-ability to him. Yes he is Polish, with some uniquely Polish complaints and problems, but he could easily be any middle aged man in any western society. While he's a wacko in his own way, what the movie says is, "aren't we all?", "aren't we all this man in some way?" This movie did for me, what hardly any movies do anymore; it made me think and reflect about my own life and my own choices, and any movie that can do that, deserves praise in my book.

dominikagirl I left Poland as a seven year old girl in 1981.. no, hang on - first of all, Why is there a man defecating in this film? For all of the intellectual things I have loved about films from the 'homeland', nothing has ever sunk into the realm of BFR (bodily function reduction) without trying to be an educational film on the digestive tract. This screened at the Vancouver Film Festival three days ago and I made the voyage to the theatre feeling stoic and anticipating something momentous... after all, reverence and sentiment is something that runs amongst all of the Poles I know and no, wait - why is there a blisteringly heavy-handed metaphor that includes people playing tug-o-war with the Polish flag, it ripping and (I can't believe they stooped this cliche) BLOOD, yes blood spatters out from where it tears???? Help.. am I too young to appreciate an aging poet's neurotic excretions? I wondered the same thing when I started watching Bridges over Madison County.. will I be able to relate to a mature, ripe and slower-paced perspective on life? In the case of Bridges, I was lured by the universally binding theme of love, kinship and romance, however removed it was from mine. In WACKO, not only did I have a hard time believing the protagonist but all of the supporting characters were caricature cut-outs of things you see in 80s sitcoms in North America: the venomous (and nothing else) x-wife, the apathetic (and disinterested and nothing else) young son, the students who are defined by their flatulence and interest in bodily injuries of their professor. I have to claim philanthropy for every character, not just the women because they are so one-dimensional and the protagonist is simply... boring. None of the details which are supposed to be quaint (his measuring coffee JUST so) resonate because there is so much repetition that you just want to tear your hair out waiting for the director to get to the point. By mid-way through the film, I have to admit to my beloved boyfriend (Zagreb born, UK raised) that this film has none of the imagination nor raw honesty of films like JAK DALEKO Z TAD, JAK BLISKO nor INTERROGATION because it's attempting to do something it considers to be "NEW" (ie. Poles are not historically about going on about mastrubation, crapping, suicide) ... I felt the same as when I went to a theatre in SZCZECIN a couple of summers ago and they did "Natural Born Killers" the stage version. Totally disappointing and unimaginative... I hope that the next thing to hit the circuit does not go where this film dragged the audience through.